System and method for providing cross-merchanidising incentives in specialty departments

ABSTRACT

A system and method for providing incentives within a retail environment by selecting a cross-merchandising incentive to be provided with a product at a specialty department location and printing a coupon reflecting the defined cross-merchandising incentive on a label that is to be affixed to the product. The coupon is provided to a shopper at a point after the shopper has selected the specific product and before a point of sale.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001] This application claims the benefit of U.S. ProvisionalApplication No. 60/382,507, filed May 21, 2002, the disclosure of whichis incorporated herein by reference. This application is also acontinuation of U.S. Ser. No. 10/328,928 filed Dec. 24, 2002, whichclaims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/382,507, filedMay 21, 2002, which is incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION

[0002] The present invention relates, in general, to coupons and otherretail sales incentives, and, more particularly, to software, systemsand methods for providing cross-merchandising incentives in specialtydepartments, preferably occurring at or near the point of productselection by a consumer.

[0003] Manufacturers and retailers use a variety of incentive mechanismsto motivate consumer shopping and purchasing behavior. Shopping behaviorrefers generally to the selection of one retail store over another,whereas purchasing behavior refers to the selection of particularproducts to purchase irrespective of the retail store. Historically,these incentives take the form of discounts or coupons that encouragestore or brand loyalty, test price points, or simply encourage aconsumer to purchase a particular product.

[0004] Given the expense of incentive systems to manufacturers andretailers, it remains a continuing problem to improve efficiency. Coupondistribution has a significant impact on efficiency. Coupon distributionwill affect who receives a coupon, how the coupon is received, and whenthe coupon is received. Any or all of these factors may affect theconsumers ability or willingness to redeem the coupon. Untargetedcoupons distributed through newspapers and magazines, for example,generally have a very low redemption rate. Most people are familiar withreceiving coupons for products they do not use, often at inconvenienttimes. Direct mail coupons offer the potential of targeting based ondemographics, or upon consumer-specific shopping history. These targetedmethods have higher redemption rates, but remain relatively inefficient.

[0005] Recently, point-of-sale (POS) coupons have been introduced. POScoupon systems enable a retailer to print coupons that are specificallyrelevant to a particular consumer based on items purchased during aparticular transaction, and/or based upon shopping history. Thesecoupons are intended to provide and incentive for the consumer to returnto the issuing store at some time in the future. The coupons can bebased on products purchased to either improve brand loyalty, or toencourage the consumer to try a competing product (e.g., house brands).Moreover, POS coupons may encourage purchase of other goods or servicesoffered by the retailer such as pharmacy, photo processing, or videorental.

[0006] Commercially available printers may be used for generatingcoupons at a point-of-sale, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,723,212issued on Feb. 2, 1988 and entitled Method and Apparatus for DispensingDiscount Coupons or as further disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,910,672issued Mar. 20, 1990 and entitled Method and Apparatus for DispensingDiscount Coupons. As disclosed in these patents, systems may be providedto generate coupons at the point-of-sale based upon the type of productpurchase. In the disclosures of the above-captioned two patents, acoupon relating to a particular type of a product is generated basedupon a bar code reader determining that a triggering or competingproduct has just been purchased by the consumer.

[0007] In spite of the high level of control promised by POS couponsystems, they provide their incentive after a sale is complete. In manycases, an incentive to buy brand Y next time has little effect when theconsumer just purchased brand Xâ

t may be weeks or months until the product must be purchased again. Evenwhen the incentives relate to products not purchased, it is unlikelythat the consumer will re-enter the store immediately to take advantageof the incentive. Hence, the consumer is likely to misplace, discard, orsimply forget about the coupon before it can be redeemed.

[0008] An alternative coupon distribution method is to attach coupons toproducts themselves either as instantly redeemable coupons or forredemption upon a subsequent purchase. Such coupons can be for theproduct to which they are attached (e.g., a box of cereal), or forcomplementary products (e.g., a coupon for milk attached to a box ofcereal). In addition to manufacture coupons, specialty areas of grocerystores such as meat, fish, deli, pharmacy and similar departments mayuse attached coupons to provide various incentives as well. For example,a bakery department may attach a discount coupon to some packages inorder to encourage sales of day old bread.

[0009] However, these prior incentive programs are not specifically usedfor cross-merchandising other products or services within the storebefore the consumer has completed a purchase transaction. Across-merchandising incentive is one that encourages the consumer topurchase a different product from the product to which the coupon orincentive is most directly associated. Until now, incentive systems havefailed to use the valuable consumer interaction that occurs at the pointof product selection to attempt to influence consumer behavior in thepurchase of products that are different from the product that is beingselected.

[0010] Hence, a need exists for a system and method that providescross-merchandising incentives in specialty departments, preferablyoccurring at or near the point of product selection by a consumer.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

[0011] Briefly stated, the present invention involves system and methodfor providing incentives within a retail environment by selecting across-merchandising incentive to be provided with a product at aspecialty department location and printing a coupon reflecting thedefined cross-merchandising incentive on a label that is to be affixedto the product. The coupon is provided to a shopper at a point after theshopper has selected the specific product and before a point of sale.

[0012] In another aspect, the present invention involves a method forproviding incentives by estimating a consumer desire from a productselection in a specialty department. The consumer desire may beestimated from the selection of a particular specialty department and/orselection of a particular product. A coupon is provided to the consumerbased on the estimated consumer desire, wherein the coupon is for aproduct different from the product selected in the specialty department.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0013]FIG. 1 shows an networked retail environment in which the presentinvention is implemented;

[0014]FIG. 2 shows example label coupons in accordance with the presentinvention;.

[0015]FIG. 3 illustrates and alternative example label coupon inaccordance with the present invention;

[0016]FIG. 4 shows example label coupon in accordance with the presentinvention;

[0017]FIG. 5 illustrates a roll of label coupons in a form for practicaldelivery within a retail environment; and

[0018]FIG. 6 illustrates, in flow-diagram form, activities involved in ashopping experience involving various features of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0019] The present invention is directed to a coupon system implementedin a retail grocery store having one or more specialty departments. Inthese specialty departments, a consumer selects goods and interacts withthe retailer before the point-of-sale. During this interaction, a labelof some kind is often printed to identify the product and pricing. Thepresent invention leverages this installed system of label printing toprovide incentive coupons at the point of product selection. These“label coupons”can be used to direct consumer purchases during theimmediate shopping session, rather than requiring a subsequent trip backto the store.

[0020] These label coupons are readily used to provide incentives topurchase complementary goods and/or services. For example, when aconsumer selects a cut meat from the meat department, a coupon forcomplementary sauces, vegetables, or other products can be printed. Thevalue of the coupon can be readily adjusted based on the value of themeat (or other product) selected. In another example, a consumer mayselect a number of picnic type items from the deli department whichcould produce a coupon for discounted film or photo processing. It iscontemplated that the pre-point-of-sale incentive system of the presentinvention can be implemented with great flexibility and providesadvantages that both complement and replace some of the advantages ofprior coupon systems.

[0021] The preferred implementations involve dynamic coupons, where thecoupon identifies a qualifying product and/or a discount amount inresponse to the customer-selected product identified by the label towhich the coupon is attached. This allows the coupons to beproduct-specific in that coupons for “turkey”at a deli department can bedifferent than coupons for “roast beef”. However, it is contemplatedthat pre-printed coupons may also be provided. Preprinted coupons can bedepartment-specific (as shown in steps 613/633 in FIG. 6) rather thanproduct-specific (as shown in steps 615/635 in FIG. 6). For example,rolls 501 (shown in FIG. 5) of pre-printed coupons at a fish counter maybe different than rolls 501 of pre-printed coupons at a deli counter.

[0022] In either case, incentives are provided to a customer based uponcustomer product selection, and are provided before the point-of-sale.An important aspect of the present invention is the recognition that atthe point of product selection the consumer is expressing unique andvaluable information about the consumer's immediate, instantaneousdesires, needs and intentions. This expression is fundamentallydifferent than what is expressed by reviewing the customer's shoppinghistory, for example.

[0023] At the same time, the present invention enables the marketer touse this information immediately by providing incentives that areresponsive to this immediate expression of desires, needs andintentions. Some in-store coupon systems attempt to provide incentivesbased solely on shopping history or other information so as to directthe consumer to a particular product selection, rather than in responseto the product selection. As a result, they fail to utilize thisextremely valuable information provided by the customer's productselections at the point in time where this information is most valuable.Whether the incentives are printed dynamically or are pre-printed andaffixed to the product that is selected, the act of providing theincentive based in whole or in part on the product selection and beforethe point of sale is a powerful tool for affecting in-store customerbehavior.

[0024] Although the particular examples provided herein are directed toretail grocery stores with conventionally-defined specialty departments,it should be understood that the invention is broadly applicable toother environments. For example, department stores may provide anopportunity for label couponing as products are selected in onedepartment to provide incentives to use other departments. Also,specialty departments may be flexibly defined to include any productselection point where it is practical for the retailer to print a labelwith appropriate incentives in accordance with the present inventionprior to the point-of-sale.

[0025]FIG. 1 shows an exemplary retail environment having a number ofspecialty departments. Each specialty department is represented by oneor more terminals 103 that include label printing devices, oftenintegrated with a scale or other department-specific mechanism. Forexample, the deli department typically has a scale and label printer. Apharmacy department has printers for prescription labels and druginformation sheets that are specific to the particular transaction.These systems may be stand-alone, or may be coupled to one or morecentralized data possessing systems such as server 102 through anin-store network 101. Network 101 may comprise a local area network(LAN) or wide area network (WAN) of any topology, and may be entirelyprivate or involve public communication channels such as the Internet.All or part of network 101 may be implemented by wireless links.

[0026] In each specialty department 103, a customer selects productsand/or services that are provided by the retailer. For example, a meatdepartment will provide a customer-selected quantity of acustomer-selected product. In a deli department, a wide variety of goodsmay be selected. Significantly, these customer selections are madebefore the customer reaches checkout 105. Hence, after the productselection the customer remains in the store to continue shopping.

[0027] The present invention is readily adapted to various styles oflabel printers and label media. The particular examples herein showsingle sided, single ply label printing media. However, dual sideprinting is easily implemented and may be especially useful when couponsare pre-printed. Moreover, coupons may be printed on multi-ply papersuch that the pre-printed coupons appear underneath the productidentification label. A variety of label printing devices are used atcentralized packaging and distribution sites as well. The presentinvention is readily adapted to operate with any printing system in thedistribution chain of a product where a label/coupon can be printed orapplied to the packaging with knowledge of some characteristic featureof the product that is being labeled. For example, when meat, cheese,and other perishable products are labeled, the labeling systems areaware of what the product is, the product grade, the package size,use-by dates, and a variety of other kinds of information that areunique to the particular package being labeled. These characteristicsare effective shopping behavior indicators because, eventually, aconsumer will select the particular package based on some or all ofthese characteristics. Hence, a coupon or other incentive can be appliedto the package based on these characteristics in a way that isresponsive to the customer selection criteria, even before the customerhas made the selection. The various unique characteristics of aparticular package can be used to anticipate the customers desires,needs and intentions which are in turn used to select a particularincentive to be applied to that package.

[0028] By way of a simple example, a consumer that selects a ten poundpackage of hamburger patties likely has different shopping intentionsthan another consumer that selects a one pound package of loose groundbeef. One might anticipate that the first consumer is planning a largebarbeque while the second consumer is shopping for everyday needs. Thisanticipatory knowledge is used to select the coupons applied to thepackage so as to provide incentives for other products that would beused by the consumer given this anticipatory knowledge of the consumers'shopping intentions. In this manner, pre-printed coupons provided afterthe customer's selection. These and similar modifications are within thescope of the present invention.

[0029] The present invention is particularly useful in affectingin-store consumer behavior. The present invention recognizes thatincentives provided at the point of customer selection, yet before thecustomer reaches the point of sale to consummate the purchase, provide aunique method to monitor and affect in-store customer behavior. Based onthe product selection, the terminal in the specialty department queriesan incentive database to identify incentives that are associated withthe customer”s product selection. In many cases, there may be a pool ofincentives that are available, and processes implemented in the terminalselect one or more incentives from the pool. The selected incentives areimplemented as printed coupons. Preferably, the coupons are printedintegrally with pre-existing label printing processes so that littleoverhead is incurred to provide the coupons.

[0030] The incentive database comprises information about availablemanufacturer or retailer sponsored incentives and implements anassociation between products and incentives. A given product may beassociated with one or more incentives. Similarly, a given incentive maybe associated with one or more products.

[0031] The incentive database may be maintained locally in eachterminal, but is preferably implemented in a shared resource such asserver 102. In particular embodiments, a fixed number (e.g., three) ofcoupons are printed for any product selection. Where more than the fixednumber of incentives are associated with the product selection, around-robin or random process may be used to identify the fixed numberof incentives that will be printed as coupons. The coupons may bepre-printed on the tape used to print the label, in which case theselection of which coupons are associated with a particular label ispre-established. Alternatively, the present invention may be implementedby mixing pre-established or pre-printed coupons with dynamicallygenerated coupons. For example, the label tape may be pre-printed withcoupons for a particular product type, and the discount amount filled induring the label printing process based on the particular customerselection.

[0032]FIG. 2 shows an exemplary label coupon 201 in accordance with thepresent invention. A label coupon 201 includes a product selectioninformation portion 205 that contains information relevant to theparticular customer”s selections. For example, this information mayinclude a product name, brand name, weight, quantity, unit price, shelflife information, and the like. Additionally, each label 201 comprisesone or more label coupons 207 implementing incentive offers for selectedproducts. The selected products are preferably based upon the customerselected product, and are preferably associated with complementary goodsand/or services. The coupons 207 may implement incentives formanufacture goods and/or services, or private label (i.e., house brand)goods and/or services.

[0033] The selection of which goods and/or services are complementary toa given customer product selection is left to the manufacturer,retailer, and marketing organizations. The association of a givenincentive to a given product may change at any time. Moreover, othercriteria may be taken into account in selecting a particular set ofincentives to implement (i.e., print) for a particular product selectioninstance. For example, customer shopping history (as shown in action 611in FIG. 6), previously selected products, customer demographics, orother information may be taken into account in the selection ofincentives from the pool of available incentives associated with aparticular customer product selection. This information may be suppliedby using a shopping card or loyalty card, for example, or by any otheravailable customer identification means such as smart cards, bank checkinformation, biometrics, or the like in combination with customerprofile data or database. Also, the incentives may be based on a varietyof criteria related to the particular customer selection. For example, adifferent set of coupons may be printed for a customer selecting tenpounds of hamburger patties (suggesting a large picnic) than would beprovided to a customer selecting one pound of hamburger patties(suggesting a simple family meal).

[0034] In one embodiment, each coupon 207 is printed with a barcodeindicator that can be scanned at the register 105 for redemption.Coupons 207 that are used will be matched against purchased items in aconventional manner. 207 that are not used can be logged for analysis todetermine in real time whether a particular incentive is having adesired affect on customer behavior.

[0035] Coupons 207 may be implemented as conventional coupons with aspecified expiration date, or may be specified to expire upon thisshopping session. Allowing coupons to extend to subsequent shoppingsessions encourages store loyalty. Providing for immediate couponexpiration encourages specific customer behavior, and allows resourcesallocated to the coupon to be reallocated to existing shoppers.

[0036]FIG. 3 illustrates and alternative example label coupon inaccordance with the present invention. The example of FIG. 3 shows alabel 301 used in a meat or butcher department. Label 301 includes afirst portion 303 such as a banner or tab that is used in some labels topromote in-store specials and the like. In some cases, portion 301 has areduced adhesive property to allow label 301 to be removed more easily.Product information portion 305 may include pre-printed elements andproduct-specific elements that are printed at the time the product ispackaged. Coupon portion 307, like coupon portion 207 shown in FIG. 2,may be pre-printed or printed at the same time the printable elements ofportion 305 are printed. In a particular example, coupon portion 307 hassimilar low-adhesive properties as portion 303 so that it can be readilyseparated from the remainder of label 301 by a consumer or by a checkerat the point of sale. In this specific example, coupon portion 307includes barcode information related to the incentive offer printed on areverse side 311 to ease redemption by scanning at the point of sale.Once removed, coupon portion 307 is substantially identical to anynumber of other manufacturer coupons distributed by various means, andso can be redeemed and processed using conventional mechanisms forhandling coupons.

[0037]FIG. 4 shows another example label coupon in accordance with thepresent invention adapted for use in a specialty department. In the caseof the label 401, an optional header portion 401 is provided withpre-printed and/or dynamically printed components similar to headerportion 301 shown in FIG. 3. Product identification portion 403 includespre-printed information over which product specific information may beprinted at the time of packaging or product selection. Coupon portion407, like coupon portions 207 and 307, includes incentive offers orother promotions that encourage purchase of a product other than theproduct to which label 401 is affixed. It is desirable in many instancesto format coupon portion 407 to be removable so that it can be readilyredeemed and processed in a manner similar to conventional coupons andincentives.

[0038]FIG. 5 illustrates a roll of label coupon in a form for practicaldelivery within a retail environment. Specialty department printers uselabel stock that is usually delivered in rolls 501. The labels, such aslabels 401 in FIG. 5, are cut and formed for manual and/or automatedapplication to a product package, and often contain pre-printedcomponents as well as space for product-specific printing that is addedat the time of packaging. In accordance with the present invention,rolls 501 contain a repeating series of incentives such that adjacentlabels 401 have different incentive offers for different products.Desirably, rolls 501 that are intended for use in a bakery, for example,will have a different series of incentives than would appear on rolls501 intended for use in a delicatessen, meat department, or otherspecialty department. In this manner, the incentives printed on a label401 are targeted by the consumer's selection of a specialty departmentin addition to or instead of their selection of a specific product.

[0039]FIG. 6 illustrates, in flow-diagram form, activities involved in ashopping experience involving various features of the present invention.At 601, a consumer enters the store and is exposed to a variety ofproduct and service offerings in 603. Initially, the consumer directshimself/herself to areas of interest within the store that have productsof interest. This exploration may bring the consumer to or near aspecialty department such as the bakery, delicatessen, pharmacy, flowershop, or the like.

[0040] When a consumer selects the specialty shop in 605 as a place toselect products, the consumer has made an initial selection that can beused to infer that consumers immediate shopping intentions and desires.The present invention recognizes that a consumer who selects the freshmeat department is likely in need of other products related to the meatpurchase, or is has particular shopping characteristics in common withother fresh meat department consumers that suggest other products thatmay be of interest to that consumer.

[0041] The consumer is presented with the available department-specificproduct choices in 607, in response to which the consumer will make aspecific product selection in 609. The specific product selection mayinvolve interaction with a counter attendant to select, weight, packageand label a particular item or items, or the product selection may befrom a plurality of pre-packaged and pre-labeled goods in a meat case.Similarly, activity 609 might involve a mix of self-service and assistedservice as might occur in salad bar, bakery, or buffet-style preparedfoods departments. In any case, the particular selections provide evenmore information about the consumer's specific needs and desires and/orimply information about the consumer's shopping habits.

[0042] In accordance with the present invention, incentives can beprovided in variety of manners after the point of product selection 609.In general, operations 613 and 615 involve pre-printed coupons suppliedon label rolls 501 show in FIG. 5. Operations 633 and 635 illustrate theuse of in-store printed coupons where the coupon can be specificallyselected from a database of available incentive offers after the productselection.

[0043] In some embodiments, an incentive is provided in 613 that isbased on the department selection alone as indicated by the consumer instep 605. For example, a label roll 501 containing department-specificcoupons 207/307/407 is readily tailored to provide incentives that aretargeted to consumers who use that particular department. Thesepre-printed coupons may be pre-applied to the package that the consumerselects in step 609, or may be provided when a package-specific label201/301/401 is printed. This is a cost effective way to distributeincentives that are targeted based on consumer product selections at adepartment level.

[0044] Alternatively or in addition, the incentive may be related topackage-specific or product-specific information indicated by theconsumer in step 609 as indicated in 615. Pre-printed coupons can beused for implementation 615 as well. In the case of pre-printed coupons,the label roll 501 is used for a more specific set of products ratherthan for all products in that specialty department. A roll 501 might beused specifically for steaks, and another roll 501 for roasts, enablingthe incentives to be targeted as specifically as desired.

[0045] While the present invention does not require information aboutshopping history, it is readily adapted to use shopping historyinformation such as might be obtained by using a shopping card orloyalty card in operation 611. Shopping history information can becombined with the instantaneous product selection information indicatedduring activities 605 and 609 to provide uniquely targeted incentives.However, it is also practical and useful to bypass (i.e., not implement)shopping history lookup operation 611 as desired in a particularimplementation.

[0046] When it is possible to print the incentives in-store on alabel-by-label basis, the particular consumer's selection will indicateproduct type, weight, price, UPC code, and other attributes that willenable a selection-specific or package-specific incentive to beprovided. In operation 621, an incentive database is consulted using acombination of information such as the department identity determined in605, package specific and/or product specific information determined in609, shopping history and/or demographic information obtained in 611.These pieces of information can be used alone or in combination to meetthe needs of a particular application. Operation 621 identifies one ormore incentives that are to be supplied to the consumer with theselected product. In operations 633 and 635, the incentive is providedto the consumer by, for example, printing the coupon with the labelprinting as described hereinbefore. In operation 633, the incentive isbased on the more general department selection, whereas in operation 635an incentive based on the more specific product-selection information isprovided. In either operation 633 or 635, shopping history or the likemay be used in addition to the product selection information.

[0047] Although the invention has been described and illustrated with acertain degree of particularity, it is understood that the presentdisclosure has been made only by way of example, and that numerouschanges in the combination and arrangement of parts can be resorted toby those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scopeof the invention, as hereinafter claimed. For example, coupons are nowprovided in printed form, but the present invention is readily extendedto non-paper coupon types such as might be implemented with RF ID tagsor the like by programming label coupons into the label tag thataccompanies the product.

1. A system for providing an incentive in a retail store comprising:selecting a cross-merchandising incentive to be provided with a productat a specialty department location; printing a coupon reflecting thedefined cross-merchandising incentive on a label that is to be affixedto the product; and providing the coupon to a shopper at a point afterthe shopper has selected the specific product and before a point ofsale.
 2. The system of claim 1 wherein the incentive is selected basedon a consumer's product selection criteria implied by the consumer'sselection of a particular specialty department.
 3. The system of claim 1wherein the incentive is selected based on a consumer's productselection criteria implied by the consumer's selection of a particularpackage of product.
 4. The system of claim 1 wherein the incentive isselected based on a consumer's product selection criteria implied by theconsumer's selection of a particular package of product.
 5. The systemof claim 1 wherein the coupon is printed before customer has selectedthe specific product.
 6. The system of claim 1 wherein the coupon isprovided on a label that is printed at a centralized packaging site. 7.The system of claim 1 wherein the coupon is printed in-store.
 8. Thesystem of claim 1 wherein the coupon is printed at the specialtydepartment.
 9. The system of claim 1 wherein the coupon is printed usinga printer coupled to equipment used to package the selected product. 10.The system of claim 1 wherein the coupon is printed using a printercoupled to equipment used to weigh the selected product.
 11. A methodfor providing incentives comprising the acts of: estimating a consumerdesire from a product selection in a specialty department; and providinga coupon based on the estimated consumer desire, wherein the coupon isfor a product different from the product selected in the specialtydepartment.
 12. The method of claim 11 wherein act of estimatingconsumer desires comprises estimating the consumer desire based on thetype of specialty department from which the product is selected.
 13. Themethod of claim 11 wherein act of estimating consumer desires comprisesestimating the consumer desire based on the type of product that isselected.
 14. The method of claim 11 wherein the act of providing acoupon comprises: providing a plurality of coupons on a roll of productlabels; printing package-specific information on one of the productlabels; and affixing the coupon and product with package-specificinformation to a package containing the consumer's product selection.15. The method of claim 11 wherein the act of providing a coupon isbased upon supplemental information in addition to the estimatedconsumer desire.
 16. The method of claim 15 wherein the supplementalinformation comprises customer shopping history.
 17. The method of claim15 wherein the supplemental information comprises previously selectedproducts.
 18. The method of claim 15 wherein the supplementalinformation comprises customer demographics.